Talk:Limit (mathematics)

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The math articles were written by random editors of conservapedia, I actually liked the earlier version of the article as it was easier to understand that the current version --Deborah(contributions)(talk) 22:05, 3 July 2008 (EDT)

Deborah while the previous article was easier to read, it was easier to read because it was wrong. DanielB 00:04, 4 July 2008 (EDT)

Function vs. Sequence

Function should be first. It is more fundamental, even if it might be considered harder.
I'd like to object. The idea of the limit of a sequence is the more basic one - and it's taught first, I suppose. Generally, you introduce the limit of a function in a point via the limit of sequences: What does it mean (in your example) that ? It means, you look at all sequences (x1,x2,...) with . And if for all these sequences, the corresponding sequence (f(x1),f(x2),...) converges to the same value z, you'd say that the function has limit in x.
But without this underlying concept, the expression is unmotivated and baseless. --DiEb 18:11, 17 August 2008 (EDT)

I have put the order back the way you want it, but I hope to convince you that putting sequences later is the right thing. That is, do ordinary functions first, functions going to infinity at finite X second, and functions going to finite Y for infinite X third. This establishes the notion of "for every epsilon there is an M such that x > M get f(x) within epsilon". The sequence version of a limit is just a simple variation of that notion.

By the way, greetings. You and I seem to be the only math/science people left. Well, I notice that Lemonpeel has just come back, but things don't seem to be going well for him, and I suspect he will be out soon. My attempts to get the natural log page and the radioactivity page restored have met with no success at all, and I can't keep asking, since I'm on extremely thin ice. SamHB 23:24, 19 August 2008 (EDT)

New version

I have copied this from SamHB's sandbox. It appears that he had left the mainspace article in an unfinished state. PatrickD 23:59, 7 July 2009 (EDT)